General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

Feb 08, 2021

India and Bahrain Join Hands for Renewable Energy

India and Bahrain have agreed to forge deeper engagement in the field of renewable energy. The Joint Working Group in the field of Renewable Energy which held its first meeting in virtual format underscored the importance of renewable energy to meet climate change goals.
The two sides presented the initiatives taken, progress made and future targets set by their governments. They also discussed opportunities available in the sector. They agreed to share experiences, expertise and best practices in the field of renewable energy. Furthermore, they decided to have greater engagement in capacity building and focused cooperation.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in July 2018 between India and Bahrain for promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy.

Federal Bank Launches 'FedFirst' Savings Account Scheme for Children

Federal Bank has announced the launch of FedFirst, a special savings account scheme for children below 18 years of age. The account helps children develop healthy saving and spending habits, thereby giving them the freedom to save, spend and earn.
The account is designed to enable children to learn the importance of money management. The account comes with unique features and offers.
The account holder is provided with a FedFirst contactless Debit Card with a daily cash withdrawal limit of Rs. 2,500 and POS/e-com limit of Rs. 10,000, in addition to free online facilities including access to internet banking, mobile alerts and e-mail alerts.

Major Port Trusts, AAI Out of the Scope of PSE Strategic Divestment Policy

Certain classes of public sector entities, such as major port trusts, the Airport Authority of India, those undertaking security printing and minting, will not fall within the purview of the new PSE policy for strategic disinvestment.
The new Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) policy for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, which classifies public sector commercial enterprises as strategic and non-strategic sector, would be limited to central public sector enterprises, public sector banks and public sector insurance companies.
"The policy, however, does not apply to certain classes of public sector entities such as not-for-profit companies or CPSEs providing support to vulnerable groups or having developmental/promotional roles," said the scope of the PSE policy announced in the Budget.

Feb 07, 2021

Sri Lanka Settles $400 Million Currency Swap Facility with India

Sri Lanka has settled a USD 400 million currency swap facility with India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) had concluded the USD 400 million currency swap agreement in July last year under the SAARC currency swap framework.
This swap facility was drawn by CBSL on July 31, 2020 for an initial period of three months. A three-month rollover was provided at CBSL's request till February 1, 2021.
Further extension would require Sri Lanka having a successfully negotiated staff level agreement for an IMF (International Monetary Fund) programme, which Sri Lanka does not have at present. The CBSL settled the swap facility with the RBI as scheduled.

RBI Eases Rules for FPI Investments in Defaulted Bonds

In order to further boost foreign portfolio investments in the corporate bond segment, the RBI has proposed to exempt FPI investment in defaulted corporate bonds from the short-term limit and the minimum residual maturity requirement under the Medium Term Framework.
Detailed guidelines are being issued separately. At present, foreign portfolio investors can invest in security receipts and debt instruments issued by Asset Reconstruction Companies and debt instruments issued by an entity under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, as per the resolution plan approved by the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and these investments are exempted from the short-term limit and minimum residual maturity requirement under the Medium Term Framework for investment by FPIs in corporate bonds.

RBI to Set Up a 24x7 Helpline for Digital Payment Services

The Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das, announced that the central bank will set up a 24*7 helpline platform in order to strengthen the digital payment services in India. This announcement was made through the Statement on Development and Regulatory policy.
RBI has come up with many safety and security features apart from the measures to redress the grievances of the users in the past as well.
This announcement will further enhance the digital payments experience of users in India.
The RBI released the Payment Systems Vision document.
The document highlights the need of setting up a 24×7 helpline in order to address the customer queries with respect to the digital payment products.
The helpline will help in building the trust and confidence among the users. It will also help in reducing the expenditure on both financial and human resources that are incurred while addressing the queries and grievances.

ICICI Lombard First Private Insurance Company to set up IFSC Insurance Office in GIFT City

ICICI Lombard General Insurance, private sector non-life insurance company has received approval from 'International Financial Services Centre' (IFSC) Authority to set up an IFSC Insurance Office (IIO) in GIFT City at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
IIO will enable ICICI Lombard to harness new opportunities in direct insurance and reinsurance areas. It will allow the company to offer offshore direct insurance solutions especially to Indian corporates and individuals present in overseas locations.
One of the key advantages of setting up an IIO in GIFT City for ICICI Lombard is the opportunity to expand its international business to service our clients located in foreign locations.

Aditya Birla Capital Posts Highest ever Consolidated Net at Rs. 289 crore

Aditya Birla Capital Ltd (ABCL) posted a 15 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs. 289 crore for the quarter ended December 2020, the highest ever consolidated quarterly profit.
Company's net profit was at Rs. 250 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
Consolidated revenue for Q3FY21 grew 16 per cent to Rs. 5,346 crore as against Rs. 4,612 crore in the December quarter of FY20.
The robust quarterly performance was driven by strong growth across businesses.
ABCL, which is the holding company of the financial services of Aditya Birla Group, has subsidiaries across insurance, investment and non-banking financing activities among others.

Feb 06, 2021

India to Emerge as Second most Resilient Economy in 2021

India will emerge as the second most resilient economy in 2021, as per the International Economic Resilience (IER) Rank, released by industry body, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). The ranking has been topped by Germany, among the top-10 leading economies. South Korea is at the third position in the list.
Apart from this, India's real GDP growth rate is projected to be the highest in the year 2021 among the top-10 leading economies in the world, at 11.5%. It reflects India's strong "economic resurgence" to the global economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milind Kulkarni CFO of Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra named Milind Kulkarni as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective 2nd April 2021.
This will be Kulkarni's second stint as CFO, a position he held for five years from 2013-2018. He succeeds Manoj Bhat, who will be taking over as Group Chief Financial Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra Group as part of a leadership rotation strategy.

Plan to Split GAIL Deferred

The Oil Ministry has put on hold a plan to bifurcate state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd so as not to dilute the firm's ability to finance the massive infrastructure building plan.
It was proposed that GAIL's pipeline business should be hived off into a separate entity.

RBI Leaves Rates Unchanged

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), with three new external members, decided to maintain status quo on the policy repo rate as the August 2020 retail inflation print of 6.70 per cent was above its upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.
The MPC voted unanimously to leave the policy rate unchanged...and to keep the monetary policy stance accommodative at least through this fiscal and the next financial year.
So, the policy repo rate (the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India provides liquidity to banks to overcome short-term mismatches) continues at 4 per cent.

HSBC Opts Out of Britain's Pandemic Loan Collection Plan

HSBC has opted out of an industry-wide plan for collecting unpaid emergency COVID-19 business loans, in a blow to efforts by other banks to team up to limit any reputational damage if firms struggling to repay are treated unfairly.
As per reports, only 10 of 23 lenders that have granted 'bounce back' loans (BBLs) had at the time joined the body, with most smaller ones opting out believing it did not offer value for money.
HSBC told industry body UK Finance, which is setting up the central body, that it would not be joining, after a decision by senior HSBC managers in recent weeks.

Feb 05, 2021

Suzuki, Toshiba to Make Gujarat Li-ion Unit an Export Hub

Suzuki Motor Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Denso Corp. plan to turn their joint manufacturing facility for lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells in Gujarat into a global export hub.
The factory, the first such in India for manufacturing Li-ion cells, is set to open around April with assembling of battery packs, before graduating to producing Li-ion cells around 2024-25.
The plans of the three Japanese manufacturers underscore the Indian government's Atmanirbhar Bharat push to woo global manufacturers that are exploring a China-plus-one strategy for production.
The joint venture, TDS Lithium-ion Battery Pvt. Ltd, is also expected to receive sops under the government's production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) manufacturing in India.

BHEL Commissions 800 MW Unit at Gadarwara Project in Madhya Pradesh

State-owned BHEL has commissioned the second unit of 1600 MW Gadarwara thermal power project in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The project is being developed by NTPC Ltd.
The first unit of 800 MW of this project was commissioned by BHEL in 2019 and is presently under commercial operation.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the second unit (800 MW) of the 2x800 MW Gadarwara Super Thermal Power Project Stage-I.
BHEL's scope of work in the project envisages design, engineering, manufacture, supply and erection & commissioning of steam turbines, generators, boilers and associated auxiliaries, besides state-of-the-art controls & instrumentation (C&I) and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs).

Andhra Govt. to Buy 14,000 Million Units of Power from 10 Solar Power Producers

The Andhra Pradesh government finalised the power purchase agreements with 10 solar power producers with a total installed capacity of 6,400 megawatts of power that would supply 14,000 million units of power to the state at the lowest-ever tariff of Rs. 2.48 per unit.
Out of these 10 solar power projects, four would be set up in Kadapa, three in Anantapur, two in Prakasam and one in Kurnool districts. The bidders who won the projects include big players like National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Adani Group.
The average tariff at which these power plants would supply to the state is Rs. 2.48 per unit, which is significantly lower than the tariff at which power distribution companies in the state are procuring power from other power generators.

HAL and GE Aviation Sign Contract for Supply of Forgings

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd signed a contract valued over Rs. 100 crore with GE Aviation for development and supply of ring forgings for its Aviation military and commercial engine programs.
The five-year contract involves supplying both steel and nickel alloy forgings for shrouds, cases, rings and seals.
With this contract award, GE Aviation has initiated the development of a raw material supply chain in India as part of its 'Make in India' and 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' strategy, it said, adding that the award of the contract followed HALs successful bidding in GEs Global request for quotes (RFQ).
The ring forgings will be manufactured at HALs newly established state-of-the-art ring rolling facility at the Company's Foundry and Forge Division in Bengaluru.

Feb 04, 2021

PNB Restricts Withdrawl of Money from Non-EMV ATMs

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has decided to restrict its customers from withdrawing money from non-EMV automated teller machines (ATMs) with effect from 01 February 2021, in an attempt to check frauds, related to money transactions. This restriction will apply to both, financial and non-financial transactions. To overcome this, PNB will introduce OTP based systems for withdrawing cash.
Non-EMV ATMs are those which read data through magnetic strips and do not hold the ATM card during the transaction.
PNB has also decided to replace the old IFSC and MICR codes. This means that the old codes will not work after March 31, 2021.
Customers will have to get a new code from the bank.
This decision has been taken due to merger of Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India on 1st April 2020.

RBI Unveils Risk-based Audit Guidelines for Select NBFCs, Urban co-op Banks

The Reserve Bank of India unveiled the risk-based internal audit (RBIA) system for select non-bank lenders and urban co-operative banks, with a view to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their internal audit system.
All the deposit-taking non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and the ones with an asset size of over Rs. 5,000 crore, and urban co-operatives banks (UCBs) with assets of over Rs. 500 crore will have to migrate to the new system, the RBI said.
Currently, all the entities supervised by the RBI have their own approaches on internal audit, resulting in certain inconsistencies, risks and gaps in the system.
The NBFCs and UCBs face risks similar to the ones for scheduled commercial banks which require an alignment of processes.

Amazon's $200M facility in East Tennessee to Create 800 Jobs

Amazon announced that it will invest $200 million in eastern Tennessee to build a new warehouse distribution site that will result in 800 jobs.
Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe praised the Alcoa-based project during a virtual event with Amazon officials.
The facility is expected to be completed in 2022. It will be Amazon's third fulfilment centre to use robotics technology in Tennessee and the company's eighth fulfilment centre in the Volunteer State.

Crown Group Ties up with MiG for Post-warranty Support to Indian Navy Jets

Crown Group, which specialises in defence aerospace maintenance, announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Russian aircraft corporation MiG for providing post-warranty support to the Indian Navy's MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighter jets.
The Delhi-based group in a statement said that one of its companies Aviatech Enterprises Pvt Ltd (AEPL) has entered into a "framework agreement" with joint stock company MiG in this regard.
Besides defence aerospace maintenance, the group also specialises in repair and operations, and aviation engineering services.
The group has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian company United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) for maintenance and servicing of Indian Navy ships.

Ant Group Reaches Agreement with China Regulators on Overhaul

Ant Group Co. and Chinese regulators have agreed on a restructuring plan that will turn Jack Ma's fintech giant into a financial holding company, making it subject to capital requirements similar to those for banks.
The plan calls for putting all of Ant's businesses into the holding company, including its technology offerings in areas like blockchain and food delivery, people familiar with the matter said. One of Ant's early proposals to regulators had envisioned putting only financial operations into the new structure.
An official announcement on the overhaul could come before the start of China's Lunar New Year holiday next week. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which owns about a third of Ant, erased losses in Hong Kong trading on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported the agreement. The stock closed with a 0.4% gain.

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